Our guests arrive...

As the year has flown by the day came for our first lot of guest visits arrived. All the way from Adelaide, Australia via Spain, France and the United Kingdom - whew! So I think it was good that they came to California to chill out and relax before a trip back to Australia.

Day out to Hakone Gardens

We are out on this beautiful sunny day to Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, touring with our guests Jane & Lloyd. It was a relaxing time for all - having ice cream for morning tea in Saratoga and checking out Knitting Arts for some yarn and then to the gardens for some zen time!

I am the firestarter!

Amazing what you can do with baby blueberry shampoo these days - even use it as a temporary hair product! Don't know if anyone remembers the band The Prodigy from the early 90's?? Here Ashwin has hair like the lead singer except it isn't bright orange. It would be cool if it stayed this way for a bit longer but maybe we need gelatin to transform Ashwin into a punk!

Surprise news!!

Well I think I had better make the announcement that James and I are having another baby and lucky Ashwin will be getting a sibling to play with! I am now 15 weeks and counting, so all of you in Australia get ready to see a belly when we visit in December.

Look out Hitchcock!

This could have been a scene from 'The Birds', Alfred Hitchcocks legendary film - think these birds were on a break at the time of this shot! Ashwin was having a great time chasing the birds and watching them fly away.

For all the 'Cafe Del Mar' fans...

Wow here is 'Rio of the Sea' where is Duran Duran - I didn't see anyone in their speedos falling off the pier!! We are still in California and this reminded me of all the Cafe Del Mar Ibiza CDs friends of mine used to listen to - so this pic is for you!

Not another Brighton Beach!

Here we are on New Brighton State Beach, just to be different from the Brightons in the UK and Australia (I am sure there are more but they are the only two I know!) on a Sunday drive on a beautiful day. Our beloved picnic blanket that accompanys us in the car and Ashwins sand toys are the essentials for the sand and cold water. Ashwin is eating sandy lunch in this pic.

Some felting action!

I had this scarf ready knit from my machine and ready to be felted - shibori stylee! Well that is what the ladies at Stitches told us the technique was anyhow... This is a beautiful alchemy yarn 40% silk and 60% mohair it is so fine and soft.

Art and da boys!

We caught up with some friends at "stinky duck pond" in Palo Alto one weekend recently & found these poles in the ground - we were discussing whether it was an art installation of someone got drunk while putting up a fence.

A bit of cross dressing...

Is this our son dressed in girls clothes - he even looks like a girl! I can explain this whole episode... you see I was at the pool with the mums group hanging out by the spa and Ashwin decided to go into the spa fully clothed!! Lucky another mum there had some backup clothes in Ashwins size but they were for her daughter. He ended up just wearing the top and nothing else - the life of a baby!

Hey punk!

On one of our chill out days together Ashwin and I go down to our favourite spot for a bit of wildlife viewing. Here we found a baby crane?? Well it was hanging around a beautiful looking mature crane at the lake. I just loved it's head dress!

Last day of childcare

This is Ashwins childcare centre that he enjoyed so much, Daddy was here to drop him off for his last day. He had a party and the carers were saying that he loves to wear fairy wings. Now that is an idea for a Halloween outfit - he can go as a boy fairy??

Mr Scamp

This is the scamp Ashwin in amongst the marigolds on a morning out to Los Gatos. He just loved his time in childcare when I was working full time then part time. Now Ashwin gets to hang out with Mum all the time! Think he has been enjoying himself and his days out doing stuff around the place. Think the best thing is doing the groceries and scoring free food, mmmmm!

Ever seen an Artichoke flower?

As I haven't blogged for months (it seems like forever!) as I have been busy with work, looking after Ashwin & for the last 3 weeks two lots of different guests from Australia - here's opening with something flowery. We found this at the Farmers Market in Sunnyvale & it smells like honey, when we first saw it I said to James - it's an artichoke flower & sure enough it was!!

Ashwins first real haircut

Due to a lice in his hair from childcare, Ashwin had to go & get his hippy hair chopped off. Here he is in the salon & after with his new haircut - what a cutie!

Haircut time for the boyz...

James thought he'd get his chopped off as well as Ashwin due to nits. Here he is before and after! Cost a mere $10 - what a bargain!

Surprise 6 pack!

While we were doing the weekly shop down at the local Whole Foods (Pay) James found a surprise 6 pack of beer. There is an interesting range of beers here & if you enjoy beer there are tons of microbrews to choose from - who needs to drink yank beer?? NB. James went back for more & they weren't to be found - think they were getting rid of their ol' stash & putting in some new samples.

A cat fertiliser

Here is Mr Scrap in our herb planter box, then he used it as a litter box. He's looking quite comfy in here with his tongue hanging out!

Two of my fave things in the one ad!

How's this for a find - as I was looking though the Visit Victoria website for some inspiration images for a work presentation - I found this ad with their new promo campaign 'the red thread'. This is a great shot of Melbourne city (my home!!) and a massive ball of yarn! Watch the vid, it is excellent... well it made me homesick :)

Spare the air...

...ride the train as an alternate means of transport. Speaking of resources there were free rides on the Caltrain the other day to encourage folk to catch public transit... mmmmm think they'll have to improve it first.

For the truck lovers

Look closely at this plate & what do u see - what word was that, ohhhh trucker. When I walked past I had to look twice to see whether it said the F word?? It just says 'Ice Cold Mother Trucker'. It is a quite huge truck & there are many more that are even bigger than this one that people use as their car to get around the place - we got oil, so let's use it is their theory.

A how to of parking

If lines & signs aren't enough to assist you to park here is a diagram of how to park - you put your bumper here. 90 degress is this angle. On the way to work I found this sign & thank goodness for this the parking looked fine.

Gelati for me, mmmmmm!

As a treat for the end of a yummy lunch of a sushi roll (handroll wrapped in rice paper - delicious!) at the Ferry Building I found a gelati store, this was amaretto & butter pecan gelati I enjoyed in the sunshine of a bright summers day.

Not the last train ride!

Here is the platform where I wait for the limited express train - downtown Mtn View. The sign says to San Francisco, it is a journey of 1 hour every morning to da city. Now, I'm working 2 days a week for the next month of so, then countdown to Xmas in Oz!

Full time work is over...

Whew it has been 5 very long weeks (ending on the 31 Aug) but the time has flown by when you are back working. This is shadow of the word coffee on the building I work in in SF. Anyhow, the days were long & yes I did get a lot of knitting done on the Caltrain - I made this fab shoulder bag out of Noro yarn from Japan. Will blog it when it is finished, still have to sew it together!

Da Local Waterhole

At my first week of work I met another Aussie for a drink at the bar close to our work. It was a great night of delicious cocktails & sushi - this was my first bar experience in San Francisco, as I don't do much bar hopping anymore :)

Comin' to getcha!

Look out little girl these sculptures are on the attack! You can tell how huge they are in perspective to the people at ground level. The Bay Bridge is in the background & no they aren't as big as that huge thing! These are like huge sea creatures that escaped the black lagoon with their hands outstretched ready to capture someone or something to eat.

Pretty Zinnias

This is inside the Ferry Building a florist that has sustainably grown flowers. I felt very happy going in there as it reminded me of the Victoria Market but with a high-end price tag. There were lots of foodie hang outs & this great cheese shop called 'Cowgirl Creamery', the bonus was finding the Italian deli, like the ones back home in Coburg, I wanted to sample the food but it was too busy!

Sea critters sculpture

Along the lovely Embarcadero across from my work lives these little sculpures scattered on concrete benches. I really love the area around there with the Ferry Building with loads of food & the view of the bay & the Bay Bridge with it's double decker design (by that I mean there are two layers of traffic). Dunno what the black & white pole is in the background, it looks good though!

The city of his dream

Yep the city I am dreaming of being back in - lovely freezing Melbourne. For now I am trekking all the way into San Francisco each day - whew!

Da Social Security office...

Looking at this office you would think, man do I really need to go in here??!!! I had to go here as it was the closest to where I am working. As I was entering the SS office I had to declare my bag & go through a metal detector, I then ended up sitting next to a 19 yo who just got out of the can!!

Downtown SF Farmers Market...

I've been laying pretty low lately as I scored a full time temp (1 month) job in San Francisco at an architects firm. As I didn't have a social security number I had to go to the SF office to acquire one, of course with the necessary papers!

Is that Ashwin on the line??

After chatting on Skype the other night, we left the headphones on the table so Ashwin thought he would try them out! He is at the stage now where he imitates us by watching our actions. Ashwin & I were having a conversation through the headphones & having a great time!

Embarcadero Artwork

This public art is just across the road from where I am working. It is such a lovely area with the massive Bay Bridge above the vast panorama of water. It is incredible to see massive container ships go by the office window in the arvo. Oh here is where I am working for a short time in SF city, it is an excellent company to work for & the people there are so friendly!

Berkely LIVE kite flying action!

Here is some of the action from the Berkeley kite festival, we had an awesome time checking out the high flyers!

Is it a scuba dude in the sky?

Yep he was swimming around with the Octopus in the sky. This pic captures him diving through the sky & maybe into a cloud??

Ready for some wrangling?

Here are the Octopus kites with a shark rainbow kite in the foreground. They were wonderful to watch, it was as if they were underwater.

Blue skies, smiling at me!

Here is Mr Ashwin meserised by the kites in action. We ended up sitting near the area for a snack & before we knew it we were all mesmerised by the action of the kites. There was a Japanese kite demonstration with some live music too! It was excellent to watch the kite wranglers with their massive show kites - the highlights being the Octopus team, so colourful & huge!

Gonna get high till the day I die!

Last Saturday we planned a day out to Berkeley to go to the Kite Festival! It was such a picture perfect day for kite flying & as you can see in the distance a couple of the octopus kites are gently blowing in the breeze. Ashwin was wearing his new windbreaker we picked up at REI on the cheap. The usual food was on offer i.e. garlic fries, fried artichoke, corndogs & much more fried goodness??!!

A work in progress...

Here is the mohair scarf knitted up in about half an hour on the machine, it would have taken me forever to knit up with such a fine yarn! The plan for this is to shibori felt it - which means thrown it in hot water & see what happens... I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product :)

A bit of mohair action of the machine

At the Stiches expo I found this beautiful mohair & merino blend yarn which was as fine as a strand of cotton. The idea was to knit them on a size 7 needle & make a shibori scarf. I thought well why not see if it knits up on the machine & it did - yay!!

The answer is blowing in the wind...

Strange coincidence a song by Cat Stevens & this is a picture of 'Cat Tails' well they look like a cat tail to me - they may have another name?? I love how the flora constantly changes throughout the seasons & now in the height of summer I found these growing at Shoreline park. It is certainly a great place to hang out & relax, as it is so quiet away from the traffic noise.

Time for another squirrel pic...

On one of our little outings down to Shoreline we found this baby ground squirrel scurrying around the place looking for food. Ashwin & I had a fun time watching him doing his thing then Ashwin scared the little fella away with his screaming!

Anyone for a willy shake??

I cracked up the other day reading the local paper where I found this ad for Armadillo Willy's - Real Texas BBQ. 'Willy shakes' sounds a bit dubious to us but maybe not to the Americans - perhaps you have to be Texan to understand this??!! I checked out the menu & it is definitely not a place for vegetarians as every meal has some kind of animal BBQ'd to a crisp.

Scoring a prize!

Here's Ashwin having a go at one of the games at the Japanese festival - James is giving him a bit of a hand catching a rubber duck. Next stop was the 50 cents grab bag where you pulled a rope to a wooden animal & attached was your prize - Ashwin scored a couple of good ones there too!

Beautiful kimono

Here is one of the stalls at the Obon Festival where I saw this Japanese family out in their traditional clothing, and they were even wearing geta sandals. All the stalls had these great handwritten signs made by a signwriting legend, don't know who but they looked good!

Bonsai maple

Sunday we went to the Obon festival at a local Buddist temple. Being later in the afternoon most of the activities had finished so we ate some tempura & had a look around. On show was bingo & lots of fun side show games for all to play.

Fancy a sanitary dessert

James picked up a yummy fruit custard dessert (like a danish but in cake form) from this Sanitary bakery when he was in South San Francisco the other day doing his volunteer duties. A-ha looking for these guys on the net explains a lot about the name - they have been family owned since 1909!! No wonder the dessert was so good, the family are decendants of Italians.

A new hoodie from Ecuador

Multi cultural Ashwin modelling his new hoodie we picked up for only $20 at the festival, with pappadum in hand. It's so well made and has an embroidered felt animal scene on the front & the back. I ended up scoring a beautiful cotton embroidered top as well. Their woolen textiles were just so good to touch & the colours were so vibrant - for now my mission is to knit my own stuff, so no more purchased knits for me :( we'll see!!

Kulcha fest

Maaaaaate we went to the Culturefest in downtown Mountain View on Saturday which covered a couple of cultures here in the USA including African American & Asian. Here is Ashwin checking out NZ's contribution - Bungee jumping! My favourite stall was the clothing from Ecuador with their beautiful knitted objects made from llama fur & their hand embroidered gypsy tops.

A shopping mission...

On our weekly grocery jaunt last week we had to visit so many stores to hunt & gather our supplies. This is Ashwin at Whole Foods pilfering their olives - yum! Prior to this store we were at the Milk Pail market for the cheese & organic flour, then to Trader Joes for the groceries. Plus I had to buy work gloves for James' volunteer work. The last item was downtown to get Hokkien noodles from the Asian supermarket - whew!

It's peachy time!

Our neighbours told us about these cute little peaches called donut peaches they found at the farmers market. Two of these little sweeties are equal to one normal size peach. Thank you guys for finding them for us, mmmmm!